nice." Teeny-bits himself ate with relish and
enjoyment, and at the sight of Neil's contented manner of attacking the
food lost most of his feeling of uneasiness.

"Land of Goshen!" Ma suddenly exclaimed, "I forgot to bring on the
conserve!" And getting up hurriedly from the table she stepped quickly
out into the pantry. From that little room presently came the sound of a
creaking chair, and Teeny-bits knew that Ma was standing on the seat to
reach one of those richly laden jars that adorned the upper shelves, row
on row. There was the scrape of a spoon against glass and then Ma
Holbrook appeared in the door, bearing a dish full of a golden substance
that Teeny-bits recognized as her famous preserved watermelon. No one
had ever failed to become the slave of his appetite when confronted by
this masterpiece of Ma's handiwork, and Neil Durant, after putting one
mouthful to his lips, looked at Teeny-bits with such a blissful
expression that Teeny-bits felt all constraint and uneasiness slip
suddenly away.

"You can't beat it anywhere in _this_ world," he said with a smile.

It was an unpretentious sort of pleasure that Teeny-bits and his friend
shared that Sunday afternoon. When the meal was over they walked lazily
through the village to look at some of the old buildings that were
standing in Revolutionary days and then they came lazily back and Dad
Holbrook harnessed the sorrel horse and drove them up to Ridgley. Neil
Durant spoke sincerely when he said:

"I don't know when I've had such a good Sunday, and as for the dinner--I
could talk a week about it."

While Teeny-bits and the football captain were spending the afternoon in
Hamilton, two of their schoolmates, Campbell and Bassett, were using
their time, as it seemed to them, to no little advantage. Campbell had
telephoned to his mother and had persuaded her to send the family
automobile--a heavy, seven-passenger machine--to the school for him.

The chauffeur brought it to a stop in front of Gannett Hall at twelve
o'clock and Campbell had the satisfaction of ordering the driver to take
the rear seat and, with Bassett at his side, of piloting the big car out
of the campus. He went by the most roundabout way and cut the corners of
the gravel drives at a pace that was intended to make the Ridgleyites
who were lounging in the dormitory windows sit up and take notice. After
a spin out through Greensboro they arrived at the Campbell place in time
for dinner and Bassett